More than 100 workers, some carrying signs of protest and wearing T-shirts with the same message, rallied to voice their rejection of Boeing’s eight-year offer, which calls for the freezing of workers’ pensions starting in 2016.

Business

5:00 am

Mon November 11, 2013

The brinkmanship at play between Boeing and its 30,000 machinists over an eight-year contract proposal is a dramatic new chapter in the broader labor movement, says Leon Grunberg, a professor of sociology at the University of Puget Sound.

Business

4:59 pm

Thu November 7, 2013

Boeing wants its machinists’ union to accept big concessions on retirement and health benefits in exchange for winning the assembly of the 777X wide-body jet in the Puget Sound region. But machinists are also worried the contract casts doubt on the future of the 737MAX in Renton.

Boeing

12:05 pm

Wed November 30, 2011

Tom Wroblewski, center, president of Boeing Machinists Union District Lodge 751, announces Wednesday that the Boeing Co. and the Machinists union had reached a tentative agreement to build the new Boeing 737 MAX airplane in Renton, Wash.

Boeing and the Machinists union have apparently reached a four-year contract deal as well as a deal to build the 737 MAX in Renton and have the union’s labor complaint dropped.

“We look forward to new era of prosperity for IAM and Boeing,” said Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists Union District 751.

Wroblewski added that the secret meetings started out as conversations about the 737 and evolved into a full-blown contract deal because outside influences were dampened and the negotiation climate was right.

Last week, Boeing opened a new plant in South Carolina, where it's putting the second assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner.

That’s led to a fight between the aerospace giant and the National Labor Relations Board. The nation’s top enforcer of labor laws filed a complaint against Boeing in April. Proceedings in the case begin Tuesday in Seattle.

The NLRB alleges Boeing built the second assembly line for the Dreamliner in South Carolina as retaliation for past strikes by the Machinists union in Washington state. And that, it says, is against the law.

Business

3:52 pm

Wed June 8, 2011

The Machinists Union says it's surprised and disappointed to hear of plans by Congress to hold a hearing next week over the federal labor lawsuit against Boeing.

The National Labor Relations Board has filed suit against the aerospace giant claiming the company moved manufacturing facilities to South Carolina to avoid unionized workers. A hearing on that issue starts Tuesday morning in Seattle. Now the NLRB's attorney is being summoned to a hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government later in the week.

Outsourcing Debate

4:10 pm

Wed December 1, 2010

Organized labor flexed its muscles recently in our region, showing their influence behind the scenes. There won’t be any protests on the evening news. But the threat of large-scale demonstrations this week by the Machinists Union and its supporters culminated in the cancellation of a conference meant to lure aerospace manufacturing to Mexico. It was scheduled to take place tomorrow in Seattle.